U.S. urged to do more to end Korea dispute

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea said the United States needs to do more to resolve the dispute over North Korea's nuclear programs, adding that direct U.S.-North Korea talks would do much to ease tensions.

North Korea insists on direct talks with the United States and has taken actions, such as intercepting a U.S. reconnaissance plane early this month, to bring the United States to negotiations.

Washington prefers to settle the dispute through a multilateral channel, saying North Korea's nuclear programs threaten not just American interests but also those of Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.

"Our position is the two sides should pursue both ways," Prime Minister Goh Kun said in a speech at a meeting with economic leaders. "Based on this, the Korean government will do its best to settle the problem peacefully in close coordination with the United States."

The South Korean foreign minister made similar comments earlier Wednesday. Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said that while Seoul supports a multinational approach to addressing the crisis -- there should still be bilateral discussions between Washington and North Korea.

"We would like it if the United States showed more willingness to settle substantial issues with North Korea," Yoon said on KBS radio.

Yoon said he will visit Washington later this month to arrange a summit between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and President Bush.

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard said Washington would continue to push for a multinational approach on pressuring the North, saying "other nations have much to lose from North Korea's dangerous actions."

In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov warned Wednesday against threatening North Korea, saying Moscow was continuing its quiet diplomacy to help reach a settlement.

"Russia is definitely against preventive strikes on North Korea and against any military nuclear programs on the Korean peninsula," Mamedov said.

during a visit to Tokyo, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Hubbard said recent dispatches of extra military hardware and troops to South Korea were part of annual war games and not related to tensions with the North.

Earlier this week, the United States said it was sending six F- 117 Nighthawk stealth fighters to South Korea, a move expected to anger the North.

The United States also plans to send the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to South Korea to participate in an ongoing joint military exercise.

On Wednesday, North Korea's official KCNA news agency said Washington was "watching for a chance to mount a pre-emptive attack on the nuclear facilities."

Separately in Beijing, the U.N. children's agency appealed for donations for North Korea, asking countries to set aside any unease about helping the country during the nuclear crisis.

UNICEF Asia-Pacific director Mehr Kahn said the agency received less than $500,000 of the $12 million needed this year to buy medicines, fortified milk and other supplies for 2.5 million North Korean children.

Tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula have risen since October, when Washington said North Korea admitted having a secret nuclear program. In recent months, North Korea has expelled U.N. monitors, withdrawn from a key nuclear arms-control treaty and restarted a nuclear reactor that Washington says can be used to make atomic bombs.

Also Wednesday, the South and North agreed to start laying rail tracks across the demilitarized zone between the two countries in late March as part of a plan for two cross-border railways, the South Korean government said.

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